


Unrequited

by Harukami



Series: For The Birds [1]
Category: DRAMAtical Murder
Genre: It's also kind of Koujaku/Aoba, M/M, Multi, but I'd feel bad tagging that for people actually looking for shipping fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-06
Updated: 2014-02-06
Packaged: 2018-01-11 09:21:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1171382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Harukami/pseuds/Harukami
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Beni's angry on Koujaku's behalf that Aoba's off living with Mink, and tries to take it out on Huracan. It doesn't really go as any of them expect.</p><p>Some kind of mess of Tori(Huracan)/Beni, Mink/Aoba, Koujaku->Aoba, and one other thing.  Set on Mink's r:c route.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unrequited

Huracan is fairly sure that Aoba hasn't noticed. He's like that, Mink's Aoba -- for all that he's very good at understanding some things, his emotional range seems somewhat hampered. There's probably a story there, but it is none of Huracan's business and nothing he has any inclination to dig into. Mink and Aoba have enough of their own business to work out without adding in Aoba's relationships with other people at this stage.

Mink has probably noticed, however, or, at least, Mink makes himself scarce whenever Aoba and Koujaku call each other, which is regularly. At the least, it is Mink's habitual courtesy, but more likely he simply recognizes an unkindness he doesn't wish to participate in. He has always considered it important to determine what kind of cruelty he should and should not engage in, and commit to that action.

But behind Koujaku's wide, pained smile as he and Aoba catch up on life, Huracan can see the sparrow glaring, head as low into his body as it's possible to get, feathers puffed up. Well, no wonder. Beni has seen Koujaku when the call ends and he doesn't need to keep that smile on for Aoba. There's no help for it, though, and glaring is pointless. In fact, at best, it's harmful.

He sends Beni a message:

_If you keep glaring like that, Aoba will notice._

Watching Beni means he sees the reaction exactly as Beni gets the message, which is, of course, immediate. Those feathers fluff, and if anything, he glares harder.

He receives a reply within seconds: _Maybe he should notice. Maybe he should get a clue and come HOME already, goddammit!_

_But he will not. All that will occur is that he will feel guilty about the course he has already decided upon. Koujaku himself is clearly determined to not allow that to occur. You are his allmate, and so you must support his actions in every way._

Beni's feathers slowly smooth down when Huracan is not immediately scornful which, to be honest, had been a difficult decision to make. But Beni is attached to his master, after all, and programmed with a hotheaded personality, so there is only so much that can be expected of him, and riling him up now would be a poor decision.

 _Yeah_ , Beni sends, _but he's torturing himself._

Huracan considers that. It's true that the look on Koujaku's face is of a man tortured. _Perhaps so, but he is torturing_ himself _. Aoba is not torturing him. And so, if you choose to punish Aoba when Koujaku has chosen not to, you will only increase his pain, and he will have no support to turn to. Calm down, Sparrow._

 _Don't call me Sparrow_ , Beni shoots back, but flies out of the camera view, as if by flying out of sight he has ended the conversation. It's completely meaningless; they could continue messaging each other at any point. But Beni appears to be given to that kind of display, so Huracan doesn't respond again.

***

It is late at night when he gets another message, and he had been, perhaps, minutes away from entering sleep mode. But the time is very different in Japan, of course, just after noon.

_Oi, Bird. You awake?_

He lets out a subvocal sigh. _Only barely. I have a name now, Sparrow._

Beni's bristling is almost audible in the reply. _I had a name all along, what's your point? Don't call me 'sparrow'!_

The point is that particular reaction is enjoyable, but mentioning it won't make this conversation go any more quickly. Huracan says, _Mine is Huracan. What can I do for you this evening, Beni?_

Considerably mollified, Beni sends, _Are they happy?_

_I suppose I needn't ask to whom you refer._

_Don't play dumb, Bird! You know whom I mean._

Perhaps he should just sleep. _I have a name now, Sparrow._

_Are they happy? Do they have a good relationship?_

Huracan gives the question the consideration it's due. _There are many barriers to happiness between them. It is not my place, however I look at it, to assess their happiness and pass judgment on it. However, it is a task they have chosen to undertake. Whether this is a 'good' relationship or a 'bad' one is a subjective viewpoint. They are struggling against their barriers and adjusting how they have lived in order to acknowledge and address the issues and become happy regardless. They are satisfied with their life choices, and working towards making their future happiness a full reality, conscious of concerns of the past and knowing each other for who they are._

Beni does not reply, and so Huracan goes to sleep.

***

 _Bird_. 

Huracan gets another message three days later. It is shortly before Aoba and Koujaku are going to begin their regular chat. _I have a name now, Sparrow._

 _I don't want to watch them, so talk with me,_ Beni shoots back. 

Resettling his wings, Huracan considers the revelations of a comment like that. _I have no objections, so long as you remain calm._

_I don't have to if I don't want to!_

_I'm so glad we can understand each other._ Huracan says.

When Aoba and Koujaku's coils connect, Beni isn't in sight. But he contacts Huracan regardless. _It's just so damn pathetic._

_Your master?_

_The situation!_ Beni spits, affronted. _Aoba doesn't belong out there!_

_You keep insisting that, but you can't alter your reality. You care too much about your master._

He can hear the anger in Beni's voice. _What, so you don't care at all?_

_It isn't that I don't care. What happens to Mink is my business, after all. What he does is not. That is his. How he feels about it is also not, except where he chooses to share it with me._

_Which I bet he doesn't. He's not caring like Koujaku._

Huracan can't quite hide his amusement. _You love him._

He expects a retort. He doesn't expect the lengthy silence that follows, the lack of reply that stretches on for minutes. He can hear Aoba chattering away in the next room, happily.

Finally: _So what?_

Unexpected. Above all things, entirely unexpected. _I see_ , he replies.

 _You see what?!_ Beni demands. _What do you see? You don't see anything, you jerk!_

_So you do love him. How unexpected_

Huracan does, briefly, wish he could see the other allmate; it is hard to judge reactions from audio alone, and he can only assume that Beni is puffing up and flustering, but it's impossible to tell after experiencing that long silence whether or not he is accurately reading the tone of this conversation.

But Beni does seem flustered. _Of course! Idiot, what's wrong with you?? It's only natural for an allmate to love their user!_

_Is that so? I suppose I'm unnatural then._

_More like that big creeper isn't loveable enough,_ Beni huffs. 

He can't resist the amused jab. _Aoba seems to disagree._

_Aoba has awful taste! If he was with Koujaku, he'd be five hundred times happier! Man, the whole gang would support him, what's he got out there? You, that asshole, and a bunch of trees?_

_A reasonable number of trees, yes._

Beni sounds disgusted: _So nothing at all!_

_Thanks very much. Though, however much you like him, Sparrow, it's Koujaku you're concerned with; as we've previously discussed, Aoba has chosen this, the happiness and struggles alike. Are you unwilling to bring it up with Koujaku, then?_

_I can't do that._ Beni's tone is almost suspicious, as if he doesn't trust such a concerned answer. Well, he's right not to, but is it that he's got nowhere else to turn? _What would I even say?_

Huracan laughs to himself, quiet. _You could tell him you love him._

_Gross! Who would do that?!_

_I thought it was only natural for allmates to love their users?_ Huracan injects as mild a tone as he can into it.

_That's different! It's totally different!_

_Why is it different?_ he asked.

Another of those raw, blatantly apparent long silences. Then: _You're useless. It's useless to talk to you._

***

"Ren."

"Huracan. What is it?"

"You are that sparrow's friend, are you not?"

Ren tilts his head quizzically, tongue sticking out. "If you mean Beni, I am. Why?"

"Has he spoken to you recently?" Huracan resettles his wings, scratching casually under his chin with a claw.

The air of curiosity around Ren deepens. "Not too recently. Why?"

"Perhaps you're too close to the situation. Never mind it."

"...Huracan."

He ignores the prompting tone in Ren's voice and twists, flies into the other room.

***

It is almost time to shut down again, when he gets another message from Beni.

_You..._

_Can I help you?_

Beni says, _Get online._

Huracan can't hide his surprise. He's barely had opportunity to enter online mode before, and doesn't see a reason to start beyond his own curiosity. _Should I? Why?_

_I'm sending you coordinates! Get online._

Well, curiosity is as good a reason as any.

His online form is something even he is barely familiar with, and he glances down at his long lean body, the pink feathers cascading down from his head in the place of hair, the pale pink robe draped over him, and he shakes his head a little. Absurd. He isn't this, any more than he is the cockatoo he usually wears any more than he is the motorcycle. 'Huracan' is simply information, and the fact that attractive human forms were programmed in for their online manifestations is, he believes, the height of human egotism. 

Still, he's recognizable, and so (when he transfers himself to the location Beni had given him) is Beni, short and sullen, with up-curling red feather-hair and a red kariginu that puffs out over the stomach and is patterned in wide darker hearts. He is tapping one geta sandal against the non-floor in agitation and looks extremely distressed. 

"Here I am, Sparrow," Huracan says.

"So you are, Bird," Beni says, and punches him in the face.

Huracan isn't expecting it and actually feels a flash of pain -- surprising, really, unexpected, and totally new. He grits his teeth as he stumbles backward, rubbing the back of his hand against his cheek where Beni has hit him, bare feet skidding as he finds his balance again. 

"What was that about?" he asks, sizing Beni up. In a fist fight, he has some confidence, at least, and he's not untempted to hit Beni back simply in return for Beni's initial assault.

"This is your fault!" Beni yells, his voice nasal and sharp and hurt. "What did you say to Ren, you bastard?"

"I just asked if you two had talked lately. Nothing more."

Beni puts a geta'd foot down hard in Huracan's direction, a threat more than an approach. "You should have minded your own business, jerk!"

"How so?"

"Ren asked Koujaku if something was wrong with me! So Koujaku--"

"Ah." Huracan sinks down where he has been standing, braced and ready, and sits in an easy half-crossed position, resting his chin on one hand, fingers still touching the stinging part of his cheek where he'd been punched. "And so Koujaku asked you, and you told him your feelings."

The fight hasn't gone out of Beni, but it seems the wind has. "More or less..."

"And he didn't return them."

Tears seem to spring into Beni's eyes as he flies, again, into a rage. "What?! What're you talking about! My feelings aren't of a type that need a return! I talked about _his_ feelings for _Aoba_!"

"You fool," Huracan says, not unsympathetically, and holds out an arm.

Beni stares at it as if he doesn't recognize the gesture. "What?"

Though of course he does recognize it, Huracan is sure. He's seen it in his master a thousand times, with a thousand different women, hasn't he? And none of them the person his master wants. Huracan sighs, and makes a gesture with the arm, still holding it out. "Beni, come."

He doesn't know if Beni will, doesn't know if Beni won't just reject it and fly into a greater rage, but now the fight is gone from him entirely. Beni lowers his threatening fists, his long sleeves folding to his sides with the impression of wings, and comes over slowly.

Huracan keeps his arm out, waiting, and Beni sinks to his knees beside Huracan, then slowly folds against him.

It's strange, touching another like this. Sensation has largely been a measure of diagnosing a combination of 'pressure' and 'intent' in order to determine whether something is pleasant or unpleasant, a conceptual and practical assessment. This feels different, feels direct and understandable in a way he can't think of as more than _as if he is actually touching Beni_ ; he wonders if it's what it feels like for human beings.

"Huracan," Beni says, his sharp and nasal tone subdued, "it hurts."

"Yeah," Huracan says, and tucks Beni in against his side. He doesn't look at him, doesn't change his seated position, just keeps his smarting cheek resting against his fingers and gazes off into the non-space around them.

Pained and lonely, Beni says, "Do you have any idea what that feels like?"

"No," Huracan says, but he suspects he may be beginning to.


End file.
